No criminal charges will be filed against a 91-year-old concealed pistol license holder who shot a suspected robber outside of a pharmacy in Eastpointe, according to police and prosecutors.

Instead, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office authorized an arrest warrant charging the man who was shot, Richard Ashford, with assault with a dangerous weapon, Prosecutor Eric Smith said in a news release.

“This is a textbook case for why concealed pistol licenses are issued in the first place,” Smith said in the release. “American citizens have the right to protect themselves in the face of clear assault.”

Court records show Ashford, 30, of Eastpointe, entered a not guilty plea when he was arraigned Tuesday before 38th District Court Judge Carl Gerds III. He will be held in the Macomb County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

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The elderly man, whose name was not released, had just gotten out of his car in the parking lot of Rite Aid Pharmacy on Gratiot at Nine Mile Road on Monday morning when the incident took place.

In the release, Smith provided additional details on the case, based on accounts from the elderly man and independent witnesses.

Ashford walked directly at the elderly man in a “threatening manner” as soon as the man exited his car, according to Smith’s account. Frightened by the approach, the elderly man announced he was a CPL holder and returned back into his vehicle.

He waited in the car until Ashford walked out of view, witnesses told investigators.

The elderly man got out of his car again and walked up to the Rite Aid. As he got closer to the front door, he saw Ashford walking to him, holding something in his hand.

The 91-year-old man again shouted that he was armed and urged Ashford to back off. But Ashford continued to approach with an unknown object held in his hand above his head, Smith said in the release.

That’s when the elderly man pulled out a .38-caliber revolver and fired from a distance of about 10 feet, but missed. Ashford kept coming, and the elderly man fired again, this time striking Ashford in the neck.

In an interview, Eastpointe police Deputy Chief Eric Keiser said Ashford allegedly took out a piece of metal that he intended to use as a weapon to attempt to rob the man.

“It doesn’t have to be a gun or a knife,” Keiser said. “The suspect had a piece of metal fashioned as a weapon. He felt his life was in danger.”

After being shot in the neck, Ashford staggered across Gratiot to the Eastbrook Commons shopping center, where responding police found him near a tree.

Ashford was transported to a hospital for treatment of a non life-threatening wound and released.

The county prosecutor said after the shooting, the 91-year-old man flagged down a passing vehicle and asked to be driven to the Eastpointe police station, which is located across Nine Mile Road.

Two independent witnesses from an office building next to the Rite Aid confirmed the account, according to the news rerlease.

“The elderly man’s self-defense is an entirely appropriate use of force,” Smith said in the release. “Facing imminent assault, he announced that he had a weapon, and fired only when complete necessary.”

Ashford was being held Tuesday in the Eastpointe police lockup awaiting being transported to the Macomb County Jail. His next court date is Sept. 14.